The Countdown Has Begun

It's official: Karissa and I have been placed in the same city: Dalseong, a very small town just on the edge of Daegu (which is South Korea's 3rd largest city and a whole province on its own). We leave August 1 or 2 and will return February 31, 2010 unless we decide to renew our contract for an additonal 6 months.

This whole South Korea idea went from half baked musings to a reality in a mere 6 months. Karissa and I have a saying, a pact with eachother. We like to say that life is a tapestry, and every new experience is a colorful thread. So, talking one night back in January, we both came to the conclusion that we wanted and needed to weave some seriously vibrant threads while we still have the time to do so together. The TaLK (Teach and Learn Korean) program seemed like the perfect opportunity to brighten the tapestry, so to speak.

TaLK covers our air fare to and from Korea, covers our housing costs , gives us a week's paid vacation and even pays us about $1,300 a month. In exchange, we will be teaching rural elementary school students English. It's going to be more pronunciation than anything, and it's an after school class (3 hours long) to boot. A good deal, no? Now the only obstacles I can foresee are a massive language barrier. -10 degree temperatures and homesickness, but we are too excited to think about that right now :o)

This blog will chronicle Karissa and I's experiences in The Land of The Morning Calm. We will eat some spicy food, play some golf, hike mountains, take up Tae Kwon Do, get lost on the subway, fumble with chopsticks, sleep on the floor, sing in some karaoke bars and maybe teach a little english and learn some Korean along the way. It's going to be a tumultuous half year... but we are confident that when we are old, gray-haired women in our rockers, we'll both have a pretty fantastic tapestry to show off.